General manager of China's largest oil refiner under investigation amid anti-corruption drive

BEIJING – The general manager of China's largest oil refiner, Sinopec, has been placed under criminal investigation amid an ongoing crackdown on corruption.

A one-sentence notice from the ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog body on Monday said Wang Tianpu was suspected of serious violations of laws and discipline. The phrase usually refers to corruption and abuse of power.

Wang had already been issued a major administrative demerit over a November 2013 pipeline explosion that killed 62 people in the eastern port city of Qingdao.

China's state-dominated energy sector has come under special scrutiny amid President Xi Jinping's wide-ranging anti-graft crackdown. Those arrested include the former head of China's biggest petroleum company, CNPC, and the party's former security chief, Zhou Yongkang, who made the energy sector his power base.